


A Delicate Matter

by Zorak23



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Arranged Marriage, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25579690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zorak23/pseuds/Zorak23
Summary: Cygnus didn't expect to be married at the age of thirteen, but found he really couldn't complain. He wasn't quite sure what to do with a wife, but reckoned he'd give it his best.
Relationships: Cygnus Black/Druella Rosier Black
Comments: 12
Kudos: 16





	A Delicate Matter

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: My entry for the one-shot photo contest from the Harry Potter Fanfiction group on Facebook. Ages are canon correct, although rather younger than the photo would suggest. As always, Black Lives Matter and trans rights are human rights.
> 
> Beta Love: JacqP, who also Brit-picked it for me. Special thanks to DieTheSlashAddict for coming up with the title 'A Delicate Matter.’ Otherwise y’all would be reading ‘I Really Hate Titles, Please Read This Anyway.’

****

It was raining the night Thaddeus Rosier came to visit. For some reason, the storm always stuck out in Cygnus’ mind, as if the very skies themselves were proclaiming what was to come. A crack of thunder heralded Kreacher’s entrance to the room just before he announced their father’s guest, leaving Cygnus to look at his brother and sister in confusion as to what would bring the man calling in this weather. 

It all happened so fast it made his head spin. He knew, of course, that his parents had been married at thirteen, but he never thought _he_ would be. Certainly not to a girl four years older than himself. _Especially_ not one already with child. His mother’s second cousin was his new mother-in-law, so at least he’d met the girl a time or two before. 

The bonding took place just after Yule, before the new year. It had to be soon, he was told, or… well. He wasn’t entirely sure, to be honest. Something about how long babies take, or some such rot. He was never to tell that his first child wasn’t his. Which made no sense to him, as he was married to the child’s mother. Wouldn’t it be his child too? That was apparently the wrong thing to say, however, as his new wife immediately burst into tears and he quickly stuttered an apology, missing the proud grins from both his mother and mother-in-law. 

Cygnus wasn’t sure what to do with a wife. He’d asked his older brother, who laughed and said he could help if he had a husband, but wives weren’t something Alphard knew anything about. Walburga was… not the helpful sort, to be honest, and Cygnus reckoned that any advice she gave, he’d just do the opposite. His father recommended taking things slow, but Cygnus didn’t know what ‘things’ Pollux meant. His mother was the most helpful. She explained that someone had been cruel to his wife, and that was how she’d come to be with child. She said to always ask before touching Druella, even to take her arm, and to let her tell him what happened in her own time. 

When the time came for him to return to Hogwarts, he asked his wife if he could kiss her hand, and she agreed. It was the first time he’d touched her since their bonding, and even then it was only to clasp hands. He was surprised when, after he’d bowed over her hand, she placed her palms on his shoulders and softly kissed his cheek. He felt ten feet tall the entire train ride to Scotland. 

He exchanged letters with his wife throughout the second term, and gradually got to know the strange new person in his life. None of the Crabbe women had ever been sent to Hogwarts, the family choosing instead to educate them at home, and Druella’s father had agreed to do the same for her. Her mother, Isodore Rosier née Crabbe had insisted, and Thaddeus hadn't particularly cared one way or the other. As the third child, and the only girl, they already had an heir and a spare so Druella’s formal education was left to her mother’s purview. 

At the end of the school year, Cygnus was startled to see his brother at the train station instead of his parents and his wife. 

“Alphard?” Cygnus questioned. 

“Surprised?” his brother asked. 

“Where are Mother and Father? And Druella?”

“Now you know your pretty little wife has been in seclusion for months, brother. But that’s about to change. I’ve been sent to collect you. Seems you’re about to become a father.”

“I’ve known _that_ for months, too, Alphard,” Cygnus grumbled. “I still don’t—wait. Do you mean… now? I’m about to become a father _right now?”_

“Yes,” Alphard laughed. “Right now. The midwife is at the house, father has been pacing for hours, and your mother-in-law has been a right harpy about the whole thing. Want to stop at a pub on the way?”

“Of course not!” Cygnus spluttered. “I have to get home!”

As soon as the pair walked into the house, they heard the cry of an infant. Cygnus looked at his older brother with both awe and fear, then ran for the stairs, taking them two at a time. He burst into his wife’s bedroom, a place he’d never entered since she took residence, then stopped just past the threshold, shocked at his own boldness. 

“Cygnus,” Druella said tiredly, but with a soft smile on her sweaty face. “Come meet your daughter.”

Cygnus slowly walked across the soft carpet, past the smiling midwife, and towards his wife’s large bed. He looked down at the small bundle she held, and saw a tiny red face topped with a scant smattering of black curls. 

“She’s so small,” he whispered, awed at the sight. He reached out, as if to touch her, but pulled his hand away at the last moment. 

“You can hold her if you want,” Druella said softly. 

“I wouldn’t know how,” Cygnus admitted. His wife laughed. 

“You’ll have to learn, then. Here,” she said decisively, holding the bundle of blankets out to him. “Support her head, and don’t drop her. That’s really all there is to it.”

“I don’t—I—” Cygnus started to say, and then he was holding the baby, cuddling her close to his chest. “Oh, this is nice. Yes, I quite like this,” he said to himself, not realizing he was speaking aloud. “What are we calling her?” he asked, looking up at Druella, slightly confused when she appeared to be trying not to laugh. 

“When I found out I was having a girl, I wanted to call her Narcissa. But your mother said she had to have a star name,” Druella replied. “I thought either Bellatrix or Andromeda sounded nice.”

“Bellatrix Druella Black,” Cygnus said. “A beautiful name, for a beautiful babe.” He shifted the child in his arms slightly so he could reach out and take his wife’s hand. “Thank you for giving me a child, Druella.”

Druella couldn’t hold back her tears as she looked up at the young man who was now her husband. She reached up, placing her hand on his cheek, and replied, “Thank _you,_ Cygnus, for giving me my life back.”


End file.
